Wednesday, November 30, 2016

TECH BLACKOUT – Huge solar storm which could WIPE OUT modern technology expected by 2020 | Science | News | Daily Express:
Researchers have warned that there is roughly a 12 per cent chance that a solar storm could smash into Earth by the end of the decade.The powerful event would likely be as huge as the Carrington Event, which occurred on 1859.
The solar storm which hit 150 years ago was so powerful that its southern auroras could be seen as far north as Queensland in Australia.
Today, in a modern world so dependent on technology, the implications would be far more severe.Solar storms can wreak havoc on global technology as the radiation which pummels our planet heats up the outer atmosphere, causing it to expand.
This means that satellite signals will struggle to penetrate the swollen atmosphere, leading to a lack of Internet service, GPS navigation, satellite TV such as Sky and mobile phone signal.
...A solar flare erupted on the far side of the sun on June 4, 2011, and sent solar neutrons out into space.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a mid-level solar flare, an M8.7-class, – as seen in the bright flash in the middle.
He said: “Even if it’s off by a factor of two, that’s a much larger number than I thought.”
A solar storm the size of the Carrington Event would cost an estimated $2trillion to the US economy in the first year it struck, with a 2008 report from the National Research Council stating that it could take up to 10 years to fully recover..."